Isn't That Rich Podcast

Starting a nonprofit sounds noble and inspiring, and it is, but the behind-the-scenes reality can be overwhelming. Filing the right paperwork, finding board members, raising funds, and building credibility all while holding down a family and day job? That’s the real story. Haley Ottolini, founder and executive director of The Mosaic Initiative, has lived it. Her organization combats sex trafficking both in Southern Illinois and abroad, and her journey shines a light on what it actually takes to get a nonprofit off the ground.

The First Steps: From Idea to Action

For many of us, the spark comes from exposure to an issue we can’t ignore. For Haley, that issue was human trafficking. Once she learned how widespread it was, she couldn’t look away. But passion alone wasn’t enough, she had to figure out whether to start something new or plug into existing work.

That early “market research” became essential. Just as an entrepreneur studies competitors before opening a business, she looked for groups already addressing trafficking. She realized there were gaps, but she also saw that collaboration was key. The takeaway for any founder: before launching, confirm there’s a genuine need for your specific vision.

Mission and Vision: The Rewrite That Never Ends

When Haley talks about the early days of The Mosaic Initiative, one of the most vivid memories she shares isn’t of her first fundraiser or even filing her 501(c)(3) paperwork. It’s of sitting at her kitchen table with a notebook, agonizing over a single sentence: the mission statement.

She explained that she spent days trying to get it right. One draft was too specific and felt like it boxed the organization into a corner. Another was too broad and risked losing focus. She rewrote, crossed out, and rewrote again. Every version seemed either overwhelming or incomplete.

At one point, she thought the mission should be entirely about creating collaborative resources for other anti-trafficking groups. Later, she realized she didn’t yet have the experience or credibility to lead in that space. That forced a pivot. “I had to admit I was starting further down the line than I thought,” she reflected. “I couldn’t begin with resource-sharing if I hadn’t proven myself in direct service first.”

The same tension came up with the vision statement. Haley wanted it to inspire long-term change but not sound so lofty that it lost touch with what Mosaic could realistically accomplish in its first five years. “It was this balance,” she explained, “between who we wanted to be someday and what we could actually carry right now.”

Her process shows why the mission and vision stage can feel like one of the hardest hurdles in launching a nonprofit. It isn’t just wordsmithing, it’s about identity. It forces founders to wrestle with what they can and can’t do, what they hope for the future, and where to start today.

In Haley’s case, the work of refining those statements gave her a compass. It allowed her to pivot without losing direction, to say no to opportunities that didn’t fit, and to measure progress against something bigger than the latest event or idea. “Things grow organically,” she said, “and you’re going to have to shift. But if you’ve taken the time to get your mission and vision right, you’ll know what’s in bounds and what’s not.”

The Board: A Blessing and a Battle

When we think about starting a nonprofit, we usually picture the paperwork, the fundraising, or the launch event. But ask Haley what has been both her greatest challenge and one of her most important lessons, and she’ll tell you without hesitation: building the board.

From day one, she needed a board to apply for 501(c)(3) status, so she pulled together people she knew which included friends, acquaintances, and community members who believed in her cause. On paper, it looked fine. In practice, she quickly realized something was missing. “I had a board, but I didn’t really have buy-in,” she admitted. “Some people were supportive, but not in the way that moves things forward. They were more like placeholders so we could file.”

That lack of engagement showed up in the details. Fundraising goals weren’t being shared, logistics fell through the cracks, and Haley found herself carrying the entire mission on her shoulders. “It was exhausting,” she said. “I was the visionary, the organizer, the fundraiser, and sometimes it felt like I was also dragging the board along behind me.”

Haley eventually learned that board members can’t just love the mission. They need to bring complementary strengths to the table. She started writing down the qualities she wanted: someone who could handle details, someone willing to push back on her ideas, someone who understood finances, someone who could network in the community. “You don’t want yes-men,” she explained. “At first I thought agreement would make things easier, but what I actually needed were people who would ask hard questions and spot blind spots.”

Another revelation was that many nonprofit founders are visionaries, they’re big-picture thinkers who thrive on energy and new ideas, but what they often lack is the “details person.” Haley was honest about this: “I’m not the most organized, and follow-through isn’t my strength. I’m still searching for people who thrive on logistics, because they make everything I dream up actually happen.”

Recently, she’s leaned on a volunteer who is much more detail-driven and keeps meetings grounded. Haley laughs that sometimes she spends half the meeting scribbling ideas all over a whiteboard, while the volunteer gently redirects: “Okay, but what does this mean in action steps?” That kind of balance is exactly what she wishes she’d pursued earlier.

Her advice to anyone starting a nonprofit is clear: don’t treat the board as a formality. It’s the backbone of your sustainability. Invest the time to recruit the right people. Look for buy-in, not just names. Seek out people who fill the gaps you know you have. And above all, recognize that board development isn’t a one-time task, it’s an ongoing process that can make or break the organization’s growth.

Paperwork and Pitfalls: The Maze No One Talks About

Every nonprofit founder hits the paperwork wall, and Haley was no exception. Incorporating in the state, drafting bylaws, applying for 501(c)(3) status, all of it sounded straightforward on paper but quickly turned into a maze of fine print and trial-and-error.

She remembers sitting at the St. Charles Library’s nonprofit resource center for hours, meeting with a man who had decades of experience. He mapped out the steps for her: incorporation, EIN, bylaws, IRS filings, annual reports. “It was incredibly helpful,” she said, “but even with that roadmap, I still made mistakes.” Forms had to be resubmitted, filings had to be redone, and timelines stretched longer than expected.

That’s when she learned one of her first big lessons: the internet is full of advice on starting a nonprofit, but not all of it is clear, consistent, or even accurate. “There’s almost too much information online,” she admitted. “It’s overwhelming to figure out what applies to your specific state or your type of organization. I wasted a lot of time second-guessing which instructions were right.”

Another surprise was how much the paperwork revealed about the organization’s DNA. Drafting bylaws wasn’t just filling out a template; it forced her to think through how decisions would be made, how board members would be chosen, and what governance looked like in practice. “I went into it thinking it was just forms,” she said, “but really, it was asking me: who are you as an organization, and how do you want to function?”

The process also tested her patience. Filing with the IRS for tax-exempt status took months, and the waiting period made her feel like she was standing still while the need she wanted to address was urgent. “That waiting was so hard,” she recalled. “I had this fire to get moving, and the paperwork felt like it was holding us hostage.”

Looking back, Haley sees the paperwork stage as more than just bureaucracy, it was a crash course in resilience. It taught her that mistakes aren’t the end of the world, that patience is part of the process, and that sometimes the most unglamorous steps are what give an organization the credibility to survive long-term.

Her advice to others: don’t skip over this part, and don’t try to do it alone. Seek out mentors, legal aid, or nonprofit resource centers to help interpret the requirements. Build extra time into your timeline. And most of all, view the paperwork not as a hurdle to clear but as the foundation you’re laying for everything else.

Funding Without Seed Money: Creativity Over Capital

If there’s one word that sums up Haley’s fundraising journey, it’s scrappy. Unlike some founders who start with seed money, a wealthy donor, or grant funding, Haley had none of that. What she did have was creativity, persistence, and a willingness to try things that others might have dismissed.

Her very first fundraising effort was a Christmas Tree Market set up in the parking lot of Crown Brew Coffee. She bought wholesale trees from St. Louis, roped her husband and dad into building stands out of pallets, and leaned on her friends’ small businesses to help spread the word. “It was chaotic,” she laughed, “but it worked. We needed money, and I didn’t have another option.”

From the beginning, she approached fundraising with a different lens. Instead of asking, How do I get people excited about trafficking prevention? she asked, What kind of event would people want to attend anyway? The cause could be introduced once they were already there. That mindset shaped everything Mosaic did.

Soon after, Haley got a crash course in pitching thanks to a group called 100 Women Who Care, where philanthropically minded women each pledge $100 and vote on which nonprofit receives the collective gift. Haley didn’t even know her organization had been nominated until the night of the event. She was suddenly on stage giving a five-minute pitch, up against two very established nonprofits. “I hadn’t prepared at all,” she admitted. “But I had thought about how I’d describe what we do, just in case. That night forced me to tighten my elevator pitch in real time.” Mosaic won. That early infusion of funds was a lifeline, but the bigger win was confidence: she realized she could tell the story in a way that moved people.

As Mosaic grew, the fundraisers grew too. Galas, salsa nights, and other creative gatherings brought in supporters, but they also brought challenges. Food costs skyrocketed. Attendance was unpredictable. Filling tables became harder than expected. Haley began rethinking whether expensive sit-down events were the best path.

That’s when the Water Lantern Festival was born. She had seen similar events in bigger cities and thought the idea was perfect for Southern Illinois: unique, family-friendly, and meaningful. She researched the history, found a safe alternative to illegal sky lanterns, and launched the event at Herrin Park. The first year, more than 300 people came, many of whom had never heard of Mosaic before. The experience of decorating lanterns with messages of hope and releasing them together at dusk created both a fundraising stream and a powerful awareness moment.

But even the festival came with lessons. Timing mattered. Competing with weddings, school sports, or extreme weather could derail turnout. Haley learned to think in seasons, strategically choosing event dates to maximize participation.

Through trial and error, she also realized success had to be measured in more than dollars. She now writes out multiple goals before every event: raising money, yes, but also educating the community, growing name recognition, and building relationships. “If the money doesn’t hit the mark, but we gained new supporters and spread awareness, that’s still a win,” she explained.

Her honesty about the last two years is refreshing: fundraising has been harder. Costs have risen, sponsors are stretched thin, and sustainability feels precarious. That’s why Mosaic is working on a documentary filmed in India, a project she hopes will open doors to new partnerships and long-term support with less overhead than traditional events.

The message is clear for anyone starting a nonprofit: you don’t need perfect funding to begin. You need creativity, a willingness to experiment, and the humility to learn from what doesn’t work.

Burnout, Pivots, and Patience: The Hidden Cost of Starting Up

One part of Haley’s story that hits home for anyone starting something new is the toll it takes. We often picture nonprofit founders as tireless changemakers, but Haley is honest: burnout came quickly.

In the early years, she was running Mosaic out of coffee shops with her laptop, often late into the night, while also raising a young child. “I’d be at my desk at two in the morning taking calls from India,” she said, “and then back up at six to do the school drop-off.” The lines between family life and nonprofit life blurred until everything felt like an emergency.

She also faced the unique emotional weight of the issue itself. Learning about trafficking, hearing survivors’ stories, and navigating the bureaucracy of nonprofits created a constant push-pull between passion and exhaustion. Add to that the reality that funding was uncertain and the board wasn’t fully engaged yet, and she sometimes wondered if the organization could even survive. “There were seasons I thought, maybe I should just quit. But then I’d think about the people we serve and I couldn’t walk away.”

Pivots became survival tools. When her initial plan of building collaborative resources for other anti-trafficking groups felt out of reach, she shifted to awareness and education. When she realized the board wasn’t ready for a residential shelter program, she said no to a mentorship opportunity with Samaritan Women’s Institute, even though it was something she deeply wanted to pursue. “It was painful to say no,” she admitted, “but I knew we weren’t ready, and trying to do it anyway would have broken us.”

Learning to pivot without losing sight of the mission is a hallmark of Mosaic’s story. Every change of direction, whether from galas to lantern festivals, or from collaborative resources to local awareness, was rooted in a willingness to adapt without abandoning the heart of the mission.

Patience was the hardest lesson. Haley often compared starting Mosaic to renovating a house: it always takes longer than you think, and you uncover issues you didn’t know were there. Progress moved slower than she wanted, but she began to see that as a strength rather than a failure. “I had to shift my mindset,” she said. “Not making progress at the speed I wanted didn’t mean I was failing. It meant I was learning. It meant we were building something sustainable.”

Her story reframes the myth of instant success. Nonprofits don’t rise overnight; they grind forward, fueled by persistence and anchored by a willingness to rest, recalibrate, and keep going.

And that’s really where Haley’s experience becomes so valuable. She didn’t just talk about what Mosaic has accomplished, she laid bare the struggles, the do-overs, and the pivots that shaped the organization. If we step back and look at her journey as a whole, a handful of lessons stand out. These aren’t just “tips” for starting a nonprofit; they’re survival strategies for keeping both the mission and the founder intact.

Key Lessons for Aspiring Founders

• Do your homework first. See who’s already working in your space and whether collaboration makes more sense than creating something new.

• Write and rewrite your mission. Expect it to take longer than you think. The words you land on will guide every pivot.

• Build the right board. Look for people with complementary strengths and true buy-in, not just placeholders to meet filing requirements.

• Embrace the paperwork. It’s tedious, but it forces you to define how your nonprofit will actually function.

• Fundraise creatively. Start with events people want to attend anyway, then use those moments to introduce your cause.

• Redefine failure. Progress may be slower than you want. That doesn’t mean you’re off track; it means you’re building sustainably.

• Keep learning. The best founders are sponges, pulling insights from businesses, churches, and other nonprofits alike.

If you want to learn more about The Mosaic Initiative, or take your first step in supporting the fight against trafficking, you can visit themosaicinitiative.org, explore the resources on their website, or connect through Facebook and Instagram for event updates and educational content. And if you’re local, Haley is the kind of leader who will gladly meet you for coffee to talk through her work, answer questions, or share how you can help.